Peacock has decided not to order a second season of Hysteria. Considering I saw this billed as a limited series, I’m surprised as to why this is news. At this point, between limited series being transformed into non-limited, and renewed shows having renewals pulled, nothing means anything anymore.
TV Shows Watched: St Dennis Medical: S1E8 (Peacock) with audio description, Mythic Quest: S1E1 (Apple Plus) with audio description, 911: Lone Star: Series Finale (Hulu) No Audio description, The Recruit: S2E3 (Netflix) with audio description, Ghosts: S4E10 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Common Side Effects: S1E1 (MAX) with audio description, and The Kardashians: S1E2 (Hulu) with audio description.
Best Episode: 911: lone Star- In true Lone Star fashion, the series went out on a batshit episode. I virtually never recognize something that doesn’t have audio description for excellence, but I tuned in for this Rob Lowe thing five seasons ago for Lowe, not even having seen the original flagship 911. I fell in love with it, and its weird storylines, and to have the final two episodes be Armageddon and nuclear fallout, and yet somehow… everything ends up OK, feels like then most Lone Star ending we could have possibly gotten. this finale makes no sense, and that is why it is so damn great. It is the cheesiest, most non-sensical hot mess to ever result in the broadest happy endings ever. Sure, telling you that might be a spoiler, but if you really think about it, isn’t it totally on brand for this show to face the most extreme shit and come out the other side unscathed? Why not Armageddon and nuclear fallout simultaneously?
Runner Up: St Dennis Medical- Of everything else I watched, this episode entertained me the most. Bruce is only 38? I thought his character was a much older person. then again, i did bitch about the audio description for the pilot episode back when the show dropped, and this is why. I’m now having a hard time imagining that I’m older than Bruce.
Best Performance: Wendi McClendon Covey (St Dennis Medical)- She’s been pretty excellent all season long, but I love how the episode about finding an executor for her will plays out.
Runner Up: The Ensemble of 911: Lone Star- Final chance to say goodbye, and I tip my hat to all of you crazy kids. I came for Rob Lowe, stayed for Gina Torres, and loved everyone else along the way.
Best Audio Description: The Recruit- An almost no-contest victory. The action in this is so far better described than any other show I watched doing anything else.
Runner Up: Mythic Quest- Of the comedies, i think Mythic Quest edges out the competition.
best Moment Of Audio Description: I don’t have one. but, imagine any two moments in the Recruit, because the rest can’t touch it.
Worst Of…: Oh, where do I start? I already mentioned the ramifications about the poor audio description on the St Dennis Medical pilot, as I never would have guessed 38 as Bruce’s age. is that AI on the new Adult Swim show common Side Effects? If not, the narrators voice is AI adjacent, but I felt like I was watching a newer TTS Amazon track. MAX has used TTS before, just not as much as some others. Also, that show is so deeply unfunny, it made me wonder what happened to Adult Swim. I was trying to imagine me back in the day, enjoying Aqua Teen, SeaLab, venture Bros, Boondocks, Harvey Birdman, Space Ghost, or any number of earlier shows, and then seeing this. This was deeply unfunny, and the talent on it is too good for it to not be funny. And, even though I thought the first episode of The Kardashians was really solid, the second episode dropped off. It seems to expect that I’ve memorized everyone’s voices and should know who is talking at all times, but we’re following different family members in totally different places. i should know who is talking, simply because the scene changed. That very much didn’t always happen. So, not a great day for AD. Plus, Hulu doesn’t port audio description for Lone Star for like a year.
